Methods and Equipment 339 



reaches a pool of several feet in depth, presenting 

 a broad and still surface of perhaps twenty-five 

 feet in length and fifteen in breadth. The 

 "swim," as the English rodsters call it, will 

 at times show a large boulder at its upper end, 

 or a freshet-washed bank with an overhanging 

 tree, the dirt-denuded roots of which lie beneath 

 the surface and cannot be seen. 



Under such a condition I usually make two or 

 three long casts, placing the flies at the foot of 

 the rapid, and at the spot where it subsides in 

 gentle ripples on the surface of the pool. (The 

 reader will kindly note in this connection that I 

 am giving my own methods of fishing a trout 

 stream, not those of other anglers, but few of 

 whom fish alike.) After making these casts at 

 the foot of the rapid, I leave the stream and walk 

 around and below the pool, keeping at least 

 twenty feet from the shore, and reentering the 

 brook forty to fifty feet beyond the foot of the 

 quiet water, being careful, however, to fish above 

 and below the entering spot, if favorable condi- 

 tions exist. 



When fishing a pool from below, long and fine 

 casting, as a rule, produces the best results, and 

 your flies should traverse every inch of it, particu- 



